Monday, November 21, 2011

Alright, we all know I'm a die-hard Aggie fan. Through and through. That's a given. And I do everything I do for Aggie athletics voluntarily. I don't get paid. Nope, not a dime. Shoot, I put my own money into my love for Aggie sports (gas money, t-shirts, whiteboards and markers, etc). And from all the time I've put into my Aggie obsession, I've seen how much more publicity Utah State and our athletics, including our amazing student section, has gotten. ESPN is always commenting on our home court advantage, naming us the "best home court advantage in the West." Not too shabby. Well, to tie into my main point of this entry... something happened for me as a Utah State fan. Something I wouldn't have ever expect.

Yeah, I got paid to be a fan. Strangely enough, I wasn't paid to be an Aggie fan. I got paid to be a College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles fan.

Huh?

Yeah, you heard me right. But, I'll give you the condensed version.

So, back in March during the 2011 WAC tournament (which Utah State won), a representative from CSI was at the tournament. He saw our huge crowd (a couple hundred students drove from Logan to Las Vegas to cheer on our Aggies), and basically asked some of us front-row-ers if we would be willing to come up to CSI and help out their student section. Well, we obviously accepted. And so this last weekend, I drove up to CSI in Twin Falls, ID with eleven of my friends to teach their students how to have a good crowd. What made this even better? They paid for everything. Gas, hotel, food, etc. It was awesome! Thing is, too, that CSI isn't bad at all at basketball. They were the national champions for Div-1 Junior College ball last year. Not too shabby.

The Aggie mercenaries at College of Southern Idaho
(plus the random CSI cheerleader in the bottom right)

So, to sum things up... my friends and I were mercenaries for Utah State athletics and represented our school and our student section to the fullest. Ever heard of a school hiring other students to cheer for them? Well, now you have.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

So last week was insane. Absolutely insane. Not only did I have two exams and two assignments to turn in... I did this while camping each night.

But, no, I wasn't camping out in the woods. I was camping on campus.

For real? Yes, for real.

Alright, let me explain. So, the first game of the season for our basketball team was against BYU. Last year we played the Y down in Provo and lost by 6 points in a crazy game that went down to the wire. The year before that, BYU came up to Logan and Utah State won by 10. That year, the line for the game was over a quarter mile long. Over 2,000 people ended up getting turned away because the student section in the Spectrum was full. Let's just say, it was intense.

Because of all of the problems with people cutting in line two years ago, which ended up with all those people who waited for hours in line getting turned away, the leaders of the HURD came up with an event to get everyone excited for the game and to keep things fair.

That event was called #OccupyTheSpectrum.

View of #OccupyTheSpectrum from on top of the Spectrum

So, on Tuesday of last week around 1:00pm, I pitched my tent with my good friend Jake Frisby. Yeah, that's 78 hours before tip-off. WHAT! Crazy, I know. But, by the next day, over 260 tents were pitched, and over 1,400 students were signed up to wait in line and camp out. It was absolute madness. There were tents as far as the eye could see stretched out across the HPER field. The hardcore Aggie fans literally took over campus.

And yes, it was definitely worth it.

The day of the game, everyone packed up their stuff and got in line. When 5:30pm rolled around, thousands of students packed into the Spectrum in a matter of minutes. When there was 30 seconds before the game started...this happened (watch the video, I'm in the grey hat on the front row).

Pretty epic, huh?

As for the rest of the game? Yeah, we won. Beat the Cougars 69-62. It was a way intense game that went back and forth. The Spectrum got incredibly loud. Loud enough that parents were covering their kid's ears, or plugging their ears themselves. Let's just say that my ears rang for a few days.

With this win, the Aggies now have a 32-game home win streak. The 3rd longest in the nation (only behind Duke and Kentucky). I'm incredibly stoked for the rest of this season. It's going to be interesting with all the new players, but I think we are going to be just fine.

Tomorrow we play down at Weber State in Ogden. Aggie fans are going to take over their arena, just like we do every time we play down there. We call this mass movement of Aggie fans "The Spectrum on Wheels." It's legit.

Well, time to get my homework done so I can travel to Ogden tomorrow to cheer on my Aggies.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Alright, what's up everyone. Man, school has been crazy for me so far. So many assignments and things to do! This last week I had three exams: Biology 3300 (microbiology), microbiology lab, and Geology 1110. Let's just say... I was pretty dead by the end of the weak. And let's also say, that my motivation and endurance was completely gone. By the time the weekend came around, I was in desperate need of a pick-me-up.

During the weekend, I was able to spend some good quality time with some of my closest friends. As the weekend went on, I noticed how much happier I was than during the few days before. My friends were exactly that pick-me-up I needed.

Then I started thinking... almost all my closest friends I have in my life right now are people I met at Utah State. I really don't hang out with people from my high school anymore. Well, I mean, I do live with two people I graduated with, but that's pretty rare. I remember back during my freshman year when most of the people I hung out with were people I graduated from Viewmont High with (class of 2009...Go Vikings!). But, even during that year, by the time Spring Semester came around, the people I hung out with were new people I had met in my classes and such.

And as I kept thinking about all the people I've met at Utah State, I began to really realize how big of an impact these people have on me. My friends at Utah State come from all over the world, from different backgrounds, and each have their own story to tell. It's amazing how much I've learned from having met all these different people. They've taught me about the world, about different cultures, about different trials in our lives, about all the good times they've had, and all the bad times. In the end, they have shaped me into the person I am today.

Of course, classes can teach you a lot. Sure. You can grow and expand your mind within a classroom and by studying for your classes. These are great for your careers and future endeavors. But, as I'm now almost halfway through my third year at Utah State, I've learned that the people I've met and the things I've experienced with them, have taught me so much more than any course could ever dream of teaching me.

Hopefully this post wasn't too sappy... if so, oh well. For those of you preparing to come to Utah State, prepare to meet so many people your heads will spin. When you're up here in Logan, focus on your studies, but give special attention to your friends and the new people in your life. I promise, a new friendship outweighs an A on an exam any day.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Alright everyone... I can't keep it in anymore... it's finally here, the best time of the year. No, I'm not talking about December or the Holidays...I'm talking about

AGGIE BASKETBALL!

That's right! One of the greatest things at Utah State is finally in full swing.

Last Friday we had our first exhibition game. We played against UC San Diego for our team's first chance to play against another team. No one really knew how we would do because of us having so many new players on the team (and not to mention having six seniors graduate last year, which included the "WAC Player of the Year" Tai Wesley).

I knew that most of us were hopeful. From the looks of it, the coaches had recruited a lot of solid players with lots of individual talent. None of us, however, knew how they would play as a team.

As the game started and began to unfold, I was stunned at how well we played! Our new players, along with two seniors and returning red shirts, played much better than I thought they would for their first game. And with the Aggies winning with a score of 74-42...I was content.

To make this all better, the student section was insane. Usually for an exhibition game, only a few hundred students show up. However, this game we were only a few hundred short of being full! And to put this into perspective for anyone who hasn't been inside the Spectrum before... our student section is just about 4,000 students big. The entire Spectrum holds 10,270 people. So, for us to have around 3,700 students show up for the first game? It was awesome. It felt good to do our cheers again and show the new players on our team that we have their back from beginning to end. After reading some of the tweets from our new players, they are instantly in love with playing in the Spectrum and all agree that Utah State has the best student section in the nation! And I agree with that 100%.

It's going to be an interesting season. I just hope our team can do well and continue the dominance that is Aggie Basketball. We have a lot to live up to, I mean, we have been the WAC Champs four years in a row now...